Written by David McLean on
Friday, 26 June 2009 13:00
I'm old enough to remember....
I remember the day Elvis died. I was playing at a friend's house. Paul R. Living in DC at the time. We were in the basement and his mom came down stairs in tears. "It's the End of an Era. The King is dead." was all she said. I didn't know what king she was talking about, I was just bummed because she sent me home - it was time to mourn. I walked home and my mom explained...
Anti-piracy groups and lawyers across Europe are unmovable - they say that since they logged a copyright infringement from a particular IP address, the bill payer is responsible. Now a court in Rome has decided that on the contrary, an IP address does not identify an infringer, only a particular connection.
Written by David McLean on
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 15:11
I first heard of Jason Carter several years ago when I saw a video of he and POM (also a "Guitar Gods" interviewee) performing Chick Corea's "Children's Song #6". I dashed off to find more about this fantastic player, and have enjoyed listening to his music and watching his career since.
Largely self-taught, Carter later attended master classes with the likes of Paco Pena, John Williams, Vishnu Sanju Sahai, and others to study classical guitar, flamenco music, & Indian music, while teaching and performing. That performance schedule has grown, and Jason finds himself traveling all over Europe, the US, the middle east, and more, playing not only his nylon-string guitar, but his steel-string and harp guitars. So far, he has been to some 70 countries - including Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and other areas many performers shy away from - to perform, collaborate, teach, and learn, winning awards and fans along the way.
Written by David McLean on
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 19:49
You like rock-n-roll? You like your rock down-n-dirty? Rock that hits below the belt? Then I've got a tip for you.....
Get DEVI's CD "Get Free".
DEVI serves up a fabulous brand of rock: steaming hot and unpretentious featuring top-shelf musicianship, great song-writing, great melodies, foot-stomping grooves, gorgeous vocals, and one mean guitar.
Written by mikee on
Wednesday, 04 February 2009 15:25
UPDATE: The Official Statement (from Girlie Action, The Cramps’ media representatives):
For Immediate Release: February 4, 2009
Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.
The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.
The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.
The internet is full of surprises these days. I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent.
If any of you could find a LINK to that footage I'll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.
Blake Schwarzenbach, formerly of Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, revealed that he had started writing music for a new band called Thorns of Life with drummer Aaron Cometbus (formerly of Crimpshrine) and bassist Daniela Sea, formerly of the Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow, but best known for her recurring role on television's The L Word. As of November 2008, the group had played a couple of shows in Brooklyn, New York, with videos and reviews available online.
2008 was a rough year for the recording industry's case against one Christopher Brennan, a student at Boston University. The RIAA believed that Brennan was responsible for sharing at least five copyrighted songs on the P2P network i2Hub—terrible stuff like Smash Mouth's "Beer Goggles"—but the group had trouble actually finding the guy. They wrote letter after letter, with no response. They tried to call, but could find no phone number. They tried to serve him with a copy of the suit, but couldn't hunt him down. And when they filed suit, Brennan didn't show up in court. Frustrating.
So RIAA lawyers filed for a default judgment in light of Brennan's failure to appear. On Valentine's Day of 2008, the judge denied the request, saying that it could only be granted if the failure to appear was willful, if the defendant had no "meritorious defense" available to the charges, and if the RIAA would be harmed without a default.
The judge's rejection was also notable for raising the possibility that merely making files available to the world might not count as copyright infringement, unless actual distribution could be shown.
Two weeks later, the RIAA asked for a reconsideration, filing a new motion complete with attachments A-Q. In it, the group argued that it was erroneous to use the three principles outlined above when the defendant never even showed up; how would anyone ever get a default judgment under such rules? But it was to no avail.
On April 21, the RIAA amended the original complaint to address some of the issues the judge had, including some concern about its boilerplate text (many RIAA cases contain nearly identical complaints). But not even this went right—the complaint was submitted without page three, and it had to be refiled a week later.
